Suspense Builds at the Court

No Obamacare decision from the Supreme Court today. (There had been rumors that it might be announced today.) However, the Knox v. SEIU decision was handed down today, and it looks like an important blow against labor unions. And once again, the egregious Ninth Circus Court of Appeals was reversed.

Knox concerns coercive union dues collected from non-members and used for political purposes. When dissenting employees brought suit against these dues a few years ago out in California, the SEIU tried to render the case moot by refunding dues to the dissenters. The Court didn’t buy it. The first sentence of the Holding is: “This case is not moot.” I’ll need to read the whole thing carefully, but it looks from a quick perusal that the practical effect will be to require an affirmative checkoff of union dues for political use rather than the automatic confiscation that unions have hitherto enjoyed, similar to the Scott Walker reforms in Wisconsin that have devastated public employee union political capacity there. Step by step. . .